Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-06-23

1T Is the habit of some people. If any,
thing is proposed that will especially
benefit st. Clairsville. to base objections
to it upon the ground that the court
house is located there. From time
immemOrial this has been done-long
before there was any thought of new
county buildings here. County build
ings that were built, one about 1914
and the others In the '40s. for the use of
all the people of the county, must be
accounted exclusively st. Clairsville afr
fairs whenever a St. Clairsville man
has the temerity to name anything for
st. Clairsville, or to demonstrate against
extravaganza. The property of the
town has been taxed since the organiza-
ton of the county to build bridges ex
clusiVely for the use of other people, ,and
In which its people have no direct in
terest whatever. This they have sub
miLted to without complaining, but
when they ask that, because of other
heavy demands that can not be deferred,
expenditures for bridges be reduced to
the minimum, at once comes the ans wer
from neighborhoods that have been pro-
yided for literally from the public
treasury that st. Clairsville is getting
new county buildings.
This is an unfair and disingenuous au-
swer. The buildings are for the use of
all the people of the county lin them are
stored the records of their deeds and
mortgages, wills and settlements of es>
tates, their judgments, and public mons
eys, and in them their causes are tried,
and criminals confined. Excepting resi-
dent attorneys and few professional
jurors, st. Clairsyille people have less
business in the county buildings than
the other people of the county. Nor is
it wholly their fault that new county
buildings are being erected. Annoyed
beyond endurance at the ceaseless clam>
or of few men for removal, and yearly
put to large expense in combating them,
they determined to put an end to it, and
give the county peace. Hence the new
buildings. Once that fact was deter
mined, the people of the county were
nearly unanimous in opinion that the
buildings should be of the most endur
ing character, and of a style of archir
lecture that would reflect credit upon
the great county that is building them.
Except for the ceaseless clamor for re-
moval, there would have been no thought
of new buildings.
About every half dozen years St.
Clairsville pays for the superstructure
of the largest iron bridge-S3, ,393 SO in
the last half dozen, And that has ben
going on for all time-with not a bridge
within miles of the town. So with
GAINESVILLE. Recently Bellaire paper
called attention to the fact that moneys
collected off its property for bridges
must be certified back to its treasury;
but st. Clairsville and Barnesvile con
tributions must be disbursed from the
county treasury, paying for bridges in
which they have no interest.
Let us not be misunderstood. We are in
favor of good roads, and in favor of jut
diciously bridging the streams of the
county. The character of a people is,
to some extent, determined by sheir
highways. and the distant real property
of the county is indirectly benefited by
good roads. But the people who get
the direct benefits should not be so un
generous in their treatment of their
neighbors who get no direct benefits, but
are required to pay as much as they.